#cronching | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

stellar-haikyuu · 5 days ago

Text

inconvenience store ☆ yamaguchi tadashi x reader

synopsis: being shimada makoto’s niece sure has its perks. these include being acquainted with karasuno’s newest volleyball captain. details: fluff | silly/crack | strangers to (hopefully) lovers | learning something new about the other | ~1.9k words | f! reader | third-year captain! yamaguchi | requested by @acrux-rising as part of my karasuno writing event (HELP kai i have no idea if you remember requesting this LMAO)

“Hi! Is Shimada-san here?”

Your head whips around, attempting to locate the owner of the new voice. When your eyes lock with the person behind you, you realize you’re staring at an athlete.

Oh, he’s…wow.

“Hi,” you greet him politely. “Hmm, Shimada-san? Are you looking for me?”

He blinks at you. “You? Uh, Shimada-san who works here.”

“Um, I do work here?” You tilt your head at him.

“Silly me,” he laughs sheepishly. “Shimada Makoto is who I’m looking for.”

“Ah,” you say simply.

Of course. Yeah, why would this cute stranger be looking for you?

“Sorry to inconvenience you! I asked to meet him, but he’s not at the counter like he usually is.”

You shake your head. “Oh no, don’t worry about it! That’s why we’re a convenience store, not an…inconvenience store.”

A quick silence falls at your attempt to make a joke.

Are marts even similar to convenience stores?

“Hah. Well, um…” You pray for the awkwardness to go away.

To your relief, the boy just giggles softly. “Okay, okay. Don’t worry, I understood what you were going for.”

“I’ll work on my humor,” you sigh to yourself. “Anyway, I’ll go get-”

Still reeling from the embarrassment, you miscalculate the distance between your foot and the next ladder step.

You let out a gasp when you realize that you’re about to fall. Panicking, you reach out to grab at one of the racks.

A few snacks you’ve just arranged fall to the ground, but that’s the least of your worries.

You are highly aware of two strong arms wrapping around your waist to catch you.

It all happens in the span of a few seconds, but you swear that you will never forget the feeling of his warmth pressed to your skin.

The world stops for a moment, and you wonder how you managed to experience something right out of a drama.

“Nice receive, Tadashi!”

A new voice appears as the both of you breathe heavily.

“Shimada-san!” The boy acknowledges your uncle, who appears behind the both of you.

“What happened?” Your uncle responds, a little confused. “I heard a crash.”

“Uh, it was the ladder and snacks. I fell. Nearly,” you explain, still a little stunned by it all.

“What, you got distracted?” he teases, and you think you know what he’s implying.

“I- no!”

Your uncle smiles. “Sure. Anyway, you can let go of my niece, Tadashi. I think she’ll live.”

“Ah, sorry about that!” He steps away to give you space, and you’re slightly disappointed by the separation. “I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable.”

You shake your head. “It’s alright. You caught me in the nick of time, so thanks.”

“Well, he’s been working hard on his reaction speed. That probably helped.” Your uncle puts a hand on your savior’s shoulder. “Anyway, this is Yamaguchi Tadashi. He’s the new captain of Karasuno’s volleyball club.”

Captain?

“It’s the same team I used to play in before in high school. I’ve been mentoring him for the past two years. He’s grown well.”

“Thank you, Shimada-san,” Tadashi says, bowing his head quickly as your uncle continues talking.

“He started as a pinch server like me. Now, his serves are his best weapons. In fact, he…”

You nod, not entirely sure what your uncle is even talking about. But if he holds this boy in high regard, then perhaps he’s worthy of the praise.

“That’s great, uh-” You realize you don’t know how to address him. “What would you like me to call you? Just in case we run into each other again.”

“Um, Tadashi’s fine.”

“Huh, interesting,” your uncle comments. “Tsukishima calls you Yamaguchi.”

“Old habits die hard,” Tadashi grins, before throwing the question back to you. “And what should I call you? It would be pretty confusing to call you both Shimada-san.”

You tell him to use your first name, and your heart flutters when he repeats it. It’s cute how cautious he is with the use of honorifics.

There’s a soft snort from your uncle, and you wonder if you’re being too obvious. “Well, it’s great that you’re acquainted now. Unfortunately, I do need Tadashi in the back. You’ll manage, right?”

“Yep. You two go ahead. I’ll be fine.”

“Alright. Just let me know if anything else happens.” Your uncle adjusts his glasses before leaving the aisle. Tadashi gives you a meek wave before following suit.

You sigh, looking at the mess of chip bags on the floor. Time to sort them. Again.

After about an hour, your uncle and his mentee return. You spent that time going back and forth between sorting the snacks and manning the cash register.

Hopefully, you’ll get paid enough for this (though the mess was technically your fault).

“Gosh, what did you guys do?” You comment on their sweaty faces.

“Refining some tricks I taught him.” Your uncle responds while attempting to catch his breath. “He’s surprising me with new stuff too.”

“That’s cool.” You nod at Tadashi. “Gotta keep ‘em on their feet.”

“I don’t know if that’s meant to be a dig at me, but whatever.” Your uncle rolls his eyes. “I’ll just change my clothes. Feel free to go ahead if you wish, Tadashi.”

“Ah, alright. Thank you again, Shimada-san!”

Your uncle disappears into the staff room, leaving you and Tadashi alone.

The freckled boy stares at you for a moment. “Um…I’ll just grab some Pocari sweat.”

“Oh. Yeah, sure.” You reply, almost a second too late.

Internally, you wrack your mind for conversation starters, but they all disappear as soon as he returns.

You brace yourself for a bit of awkward silence, but suddenly, you have nothing to worry about.

“How come I’ve never seen you around yet?” Tadashi asks.

“Oh, I just started working here this week,” you respond, punching in the numbers on the cash register. “I grew up in Iwate, but moved here a month ago with my family. We’re planning to expand the Shimada business.”

“Ah, so you’re not from Miyagi.” Tadashi says slowly in realization.

“Yeah, only my dad was. After marrying my mom, he moved to Iwate.”

“I see…” Tadashi takes a deep breath. “So, are you in high school?”

“Nope, just graduated! I’m starting college this year at Sendai. Gonna major in business, so I suppose working here helps with job experience.”

“Sendai University? That’s where my friend wants to go. Cool.”

“You going there too?” You tilt your head.

“Hm, I’m still thinking about it. I’m honestly more nervous about being the captain at the moment.”

“That’s fair. I never experienced being a leader myself, but all the ones I knew tried their hardest to be reliable.”

“Reliable,” Tadashi repeats. “Yeah, the last two captains we had were definitely reliable.”

He gazes somewhere at the rack of candies behind you, a little lost in thought. You don’t know what takes over you, but you decide to pry.

“Do you…not think you’re reliable?”

“Huh?” Tadashi makes eye contact with you as he snaps back into reality. “Oh. Me? I don’t really know. I mean, I like to think I’ve gotten the hang of things, but at the same time, I worry. I know they say that I don’t need to be exactly like our previous captains, but of course, comparison is a hard thing to ignore.”

You hum in response. That is a valid fear, having to shoulder a lot.

“Uh, that got too personal. Sorry.” He grimaces. “But I’m working on it. Your uncle’s helped me a lot too.”

“It’s okay.” You wave it off. “And I’m glad you’ve got great people to support you. I overhear him talking fondly about you and your team, you know? I may not understand the volleyball terms he uses or know the people on Karasuno, but it’s always something positive.”

You recall bits and pieces of conversations with your uncle from the past few months, making you smile. “Now that I think about it, he always mentioned how excited he is for his mentee to be captain. I only put it together earlier that he was referring to you.”

“Oh.” Tadashi flushes. “That’s nice to know. Thank you.”

You suddenly remember that you’re in the middle of a transaction when you look down at the counter. Suddenly, you get an idea.

“Um, I’d like to give you something.” You reach down for a snack in one of the boxes next to your feet. “This is my favorite. For when I need comfort or feel super nervous.” You offer him the round plastic container.

It’s a snack you often ate during your study breaks in high school. While the manufacturer was rather popular for manufacturing potato chips, they had an interesting venture into crunchy fries.

“Oh, that’s…” He inspects the product carefully. “You know, I actually like fries. Normally the soggy ones, but this one’s interesting.”

“In that case, it gets even better,” you comment, pointing at the instructions on the packaging. “If you like the softer stuff, you could actually add a little bit of hot water and it can turn into…mashed potatoes? Or just slightly soggy fries as you wish.”

Agh. Was that convincing enough?

“Uh, regardless of what you choose to do with it, it’s worth trying. Out of all the crunchy fries snacks I’ve tried, I like the texture of this one.”

After a few more seconds, Tadashi shrugs. “Well, why not?” He reaches into his bag for his wallet. “How much?”

“On me,” you blurt out.

At that, he whips his head up. “Huh?”

“It’s on me.”

“Wh-” He sputters. “Wait, why?”

“Uh, for everything earlier.”

He stares at you for a moment, forcing you to elaborate further.

“Me falling off the ladder and you having to catch me.”

That draws a soft chuckle from him. “Right. But Shimada-san might kill me.”

“Oji-san won’t know.”

“You have a CCTV camera.” He points to the ceiling corner.

“Ehhh.” You wave a hand dismissively. “It’s my money.”

“Seriously? You really don’t have to.”

“But I want to,” you insist.

He opens his mouth to protest, but a sigh comes out instead. “You’ll still insist on paying no matter what I say or do, right?”

You nod in response.

“What happened to ‘the customer is always right’?”

“Well, the thing is, I support service workers’ wrongs.”

Tadashi immediately snorts. “Fine. Fine. Just because you said that.”

“I’m glad we’re on the same page,” you grin, bagging the goods and handing them over. “Here.”

“Thanks.” He bows his head a little as he takes the bag. “It was really nice to meet you. I’ll come by again soon!”

“It was nice to meet you, too.” You lock eyes with him for a moment before averting your gaze.

He hesitantly steps back from the counter. “Well, see you!”

“See you around!” You wave at him and watch as he leaves the store.

That’s when you realize that your cheeks hurt from smiling.

Your uncle would never let you live this down-

“Did you give him something for free?”

Speak of the devil.

“What? No!”

“I love the guy, but please don’t make him think he’ll get free stuff each time he comes here.”

“I’m paying for it.” You huff, placing some of your allowance into the cash register. “Just this once.”

Your uncle just snorts. “Okay. As long as there’s money coming, I don’t care if your flirting is our key marketing strategy.”

“Mhm. Whatever helps the business,” you roll your eyes and lean on the counter.

“Speaking of, do you think it’s a good idea to rebrand as Shimada’s Inconvenience Store?”

“Oji-san?!”

masterlist

108 notes · View notes